Apple Cider Chicken

I've talked about how easy it is to make things up on the fly if you know what tastes good together, and this is an example of an "off the cuff" meal.

I'd planned to have chicken parm with spaghetti, but I just wasn't feeling like cooking that. We have a bit of stress in our lives at the moment, and it's very easy to fall down the, "I just don't feel like cooking, let's get fast food instead" slope. That isn't good for anyone.

I love the "chicken marsala" I make, but I didn't have any marsala wine or mushrooms. What I did have were some shallots, and some apple cider that needed to be used up. I threw some potatoes on to boil, and set to work on the chicken. This served 2 and Quinn.

Apple Cider Chicken



2 boneless chicken breasts
A bit of flour
Salt and pepper
Oil
4 shallots, sliced
About 2 cups apple cider
About 1 cup chicken stock
Sprig of rosemary
1 tblsp cold butter

Put frying pan on to heat to about medium. Rinse, pat dry and pound chicken breasts to about 1/2" thick.

Put about 2 tblsp of oil into the pan and toss in sliced shallots to soften. Meanwhile, season a few tablespoons of flour with salt and pepper and lightly dredge chicken breasts and place in pan. Cook a few minutes until done on one side, and flip.

Once chicken is cooked through, add cider and chicken stock and boost heat to high.

At this point, after tasting the sauce, I thought it might need a little something more. Apples and rosemary go well together, so I went out and grabbed a sprig of rosemary and tossed it in to infuse the sauce with its flavour.



After about 5 minutes of boiling, I removed the sprig, and put the chicken breasts on a plate, allowing the sauce to reduce further. Make sure to taste and adjust for seasons. After about 3 minutes, remove from heat and put 1 tblsp butter in pan, swirling until butter is melted (this will make the sauce richer).

I served this with riced potatoes and corn kernels.

This was a great experiment. I will DEFINITELY make this one again! This would be great with pork too!

Dead Easy Roast & Rosemary Foccacia

I think I got the recipe for this roast online somewhere, years ago. I've made roast a bunch of different ways, but I always seem to come back to this one. It's no fuss, and it is very well received.

If it isn't broke...

Dead Easy Roast



Seriously, that's it.

1 package gravy mix (I have used Bisto, brown gravy mix, mushroom gravy mix...whatever I have on hand)
1 package ranch dressing/dip mix (I've also done it with the herb dressing/dip mix and italian dressing powder mix)
1/2 cup water
A hunka roast (this is what we had in the freezer)
Veggies (in this case, an onion, and some potatoes and carrots, but whatever you like)

Get out your crock pot. Pop in the roast (if it's tied, leave the string on). Mix water and seasoning packets, pour over roast. Cover and cook for 8 hours or so. The amount of water might look low but as the roast cooks, it will add liquid (as will the veggies, after you add them).

Stir and flip occasionally (though you don't have to really do this...if you're making this roast while you're at work). Add chopped veggies (bite sized pieces) about 2 hours before crock pot time is complete.

I added a bit of rosemary from our garden to this one, but other than that, there shouldn't be a need to add salt or pepper.



Rosemary Foccacia



This recipe is pretty forgiving, as long as you give it a *little* time to rise. I should have let this batch rise a little longer, but SOMEONE was in a hurry to eat his roast. Turned out pretty good, though.

It's based off this recipe, Black Olive Foccacia, though I obviously adjusted it. I would like to try it with black olives though.

1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons yeast
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tsp salt
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons (or more) of chopped, fresh rosemary
Course salt and chopped, fresh rosemary for top

I was so excited to have a reason to use my awesome stand mixer. Just sayin'. I had to dig out my dough hook (never used that on the mixer before) but you could totally do this by hand if you need/want to.

Pour warm water into bowl of mixer, add yeast, sugar and 1 cup of the flour and stir until combined. Let rest 10 minutes (you'll see a change as the yeast begins to activate)

Add remaining 2 cups flour, salt, olive oil, and rosemary and mix (using the dough hook) for a couple of minutes until the dough forms a ball. Continue to mix (or take it and knead it by hand) for a few minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place in large, oiled bowl, cover with a towel, and place somewhere warm to rise.

The original recipe called for a 1 hour rise, but I think last night's batch got a 30 minute siesta. Punch dough down, knead a few times (by hand this time) and pull to fit on an oiled baking sheet (I think I used a 13x9 because that's what I had handy).

Poke top with fingers to make indents, drizzle a bit of olive oil and sprinkle course salt and chopped rosemary atop. Let rest another 30 minutes (we didn't have time for that last night, but it would have made for a loftier end product).

Bake in a preheated 375 oven until golden and crusty on top, and cooked (but still soft) in the centre.

The original recipe called for a 450 degree oven and 40 minutes, but in my oven, that makes the outside cook too quickly (so I knocked down the temp) and it took closer to 25 minutes to cook. Just keep an eye on it.

Cut and serve...this is great for sopping up the gravy from the roast (and a great compliment to the chef).